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World desk9 min

How to Add an Admin to a Vintage Story Server

Promote a Vintage Story player with the console’s /player command, verify the version-specific /op shortcut, or use StartupCommands in serverconfig.json when no admin can log in.
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Use the server console to run /player <playername> role admin. Many hosting guides also document /op Username as a shortcut, but command names can vary by Vintage Story version, so confirm with /help on your server. If you cannot access the console, add the command to StartupCommands in serverconfig.json, then restart the server. An existing administrator can also promote a player from in-game chat.

What you need before promoting anyone

You need one of three kinds of access: the dedicated server console, an existing account with permission to grant roles, or access to the server’s serverconfig.json file. A newly joined player normally receives the suplayer role. That role is intended for ordinary survival play and cannot change privileges, so a new player cannot make themselves an administrator from chat.

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  • Console access: the fastest route and the least likely to be affected by in-game permission problems.
  • Existing admin access: lets an administrator run the command in in-game chat.
  • Configuration access: useful when the server is offline or no administrator can log in, but it requires a correctly formatted file and a restart.

There is no automatic “first player becomes owner” rule on a new Vintage Story server. Someone with console or configuration access must perform the first promotion.

Choose the right method

Method Use it when Restart required Main risk
Server console command You can open the dedicated server or hosting-panel console No Typing a command for the wrong player name
In-game command An administrator is already online No The sender lacks the privilege to grant roles
serverconfig.json and StartupCommands No administrator can log in, or you want a command to run at startup Yes Invalid JSON or incorrect startup-command formatting can prevent the server from starting
Hosting panel Your provider supplies a console or file manager Depends on the change Panel labels and file paths differ between providers

For a one-time promotion, use the console. Use StartupCommands as a recovery route or for a command that should run every time the server starts; remove the line afterward if you do not want it to run on every restart.

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Method 1: Promote the player from the server console

Using the full /player command

  1. Make sure the target player has joined at least once, and copy the player name exactly as the server displays it. Preserve capitalization and any characters the name contains.
  2. Open the dedicated server’s console. On a managed server, this is usually a browser-based console button; on a self-hosted server, it is the terminal window running the server process.
  3. Enter /player PlayerName role admin, replacing PlayerName with the actual name. For example: /player Alex role admin.
  4. Submit the command and read the console response. A success message, or a subsequent permission check by the player, confirms that the role was applied.
  5. Ask the player to reconnect if the server does not immediately reflect the new privileges. A reconnect also clears confusion caused by a stale client session.

The /player syntax is the explicit route: it names the player, selects the role operation, and assigns admin. If the command is rejected, run /help and check the player-management command shown by your build rather than repeatedly guessing at punctuation or argument order.

Using the /op shortcut

Several Vintage Story hosting guides describe /op Username as a shortcut for /player <playername> role admin. Because the official wiki snippet available for this procedure does not independently confirm that shortcut for every release, treat it as version-dependent:

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  1. Run /help in the console.
  2. Look for an /op entry or the player-role command.
  3. If your server lists /op, run /op Username with the exact player name.
  4. If it does not list the shortcut, use the full /player Username role admin form instead.

Do not omit the leading slash when entering a command in a console that expects chat-style commands. Some panels accept the slash; others treat console input differently. Follow the syntax shown by your console’s help output.

Method 2: Promote a player from in-game chat

This route works only when the person sending the command already has enough privilege to grant roles. It cannot be used by a player who still has the default suplayer role.

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  1. Join the server with an account that is already an administrator or otherwise authorized to manage roles.
  2. Open chat and enter /player PlayerName role admin.
  3. Replace PlayerName with the target account’s exact in-game name.
  4. Check the command response, then have the newly promoted player reconnect if privileges are not visible immediately.

If chat reports that you lack permission, stop trying in-game. Use the server console or the configuration-file method; changing your own client settings cannot grant server privileges.

Method 3: Set an admin command in serverconfig.json

The configuration route is useful when the server is stopped, no current admin can log in, or the hosting panel exposes a file manager but not an interactive console. Configuration names and command syntax can change between Vintage Story versions, so check /serverconfig with no arguments after the server is running and compare the generated layout with your file.

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Safe procedure

  1. Stop the server completely. Do not edit the file while the server is writing it. Wait until the process has exited and the panel reports it as stopped.
  2. Back up the file. Copy serverconfig.json to a separate location so you can restore it if the server will not boot.
  3. Open the file as plain text. Use an editor that preserves JSON punctuation and UTF-8 text. Do not use a word processor that inserts rich-text formatting.
  4. Find StartupCommands. Add the startup command in the value assigned to that setting. A commonly documented example is /op PlayerName.
  5. Preserve valid JSON. Keep quotation marks, commas, braces and brackets balanced. Do not add a trailing comma after the final property.
  6. Save, close, and start the server. The command is read at launch; editing the file without restarting does nothing to the running server.
  7. Check the startup log. Look for a command-processing or JSON parsing error. If the server starts normally, have the player reconnect and verify access.

One hosting guide documents multiple startup commands separated with the two-character sequence n and no spaces. That formatting is not guaranteed across versions, so use the representation already present in your file or confirmed by /serverconfig. A malformed line can stop the server from booting; restore the backup if the process fails immediately after the edit.

Example startup entry

The exact surrounding JSON differs by release, so treat this as a pattern rather than a complete replacement file:

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"StartupCommands": "/op PlayerName"

If your build does not recognize /op, substitute the full role command only after confirming its syntax for that build. Do not place explanatory comments inside JSON; comments can make the file invalid.

Dedicated-server whitelist order

Some dedicated-server setups require a player to be whitelisted before role management works as expected. If your server uses a whitelist, add the player first, wait for the whitelist change to be accepted, and then run the promotion command from the console. The exact whitelist command differs by version, so use the command listed by /help. If the player is not whitelisted, an apparently successful role change may still leave them unable to connect.

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Because whitelist behavior and command order are not consistent across every build and host panel, treat this as a check rather than a universal rule. If your server has no whitelist enabled, proceed directly to the role command.

How Vintage Story roles and privileges work

The admin role

Vintage Story stores named roles in the Roles array of serverconfig.json. The built-in admin role has privilege level 99999 and includes every privilege, including the ability to grant administrator access to other players. Assigning this role is therefore a broad, server-wide delegation, not a single moderation switch.

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Granting one privilege without making an admin

The /player command can also grant an individual privilege without changing a player’s role. Those player-specific privileges stack on top of the permissions supplied by the player’s role. Use this narrower approach for helpers who need one task, such as a limited moderation function, but should not be able to change roles or use every administrative command. Confirm the privilege name with your server’s command help before assigning it.

Why the starting role cannot promote itself

New players begin with suplayer, which does not include privilege-management authority. The server deliberately separates ordinary gameplay from role administration, so the first promotion must come through the console or a configuration edit performed by someone who controls the server.

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Verify that the promotion worked

  • Have the promoted player disconnect and reconnect.
  • Ask them to run a harmless command that requires administrator access, or inspect the player/role information available through your build’s help commands.
  • From the console, use the player-management or role-inspection command listed by /help rather than relying on a client-side label.
  • Check that the player name in the command exactly matches the account that connected. A typo can create the impression that the command failed when it affected a different entry or no entry at all.

Do not test by changing world settings or deleting blocks. A permission check or role listing is safer and leaves the world unchanged.

Troubleshooting common failures

“Unknown command” for /op

Your version may not expose the shortcut. Run /help and use /player PlayerName role admin if that form is listed. If neither appears, check the server’s command documentation for the installed release; do not assume syntax from a different version.

“You do not have permission”

The account sending the command is not authorized to grant roles. Move to the server console, or stop the server and use the StartupCommands route. A player with the default suplayer role cannot bypass this by changing local files.

The command succeeds but the player still has no admin abilities

Confirm the exact player name, ask the player to reconnect, and inspect the role using the server’s help-listed command. If a whitelist is enabled, verify that the same name is whitelisted. Also check that you edited the configuration for the correct server instance rather than a test copy or a different world directory.

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The server will not start after editing serverconfig.json

Stop attempting restarts and restore the backup. The usual causes are a missing quote, an extra comma, an unescaped character, or a startup-command value that does not match the version’s expected format. Once the original file starts successfully, make one small change at a time and keep the server log open while testing.

The startup command ran once, but a later restart changed the result

Check whether StartupCommands still contains the line and whether the command is valid for the current release. Startup commands execute when the server launches; they do not continuously monitor players. If the line was removed after the initial recovery, future restarts will not repeat it.

The hosting panel has no visible console

Look for labels such as Console, Live Console, Terminal, or Command Line. If the provider exposes only a file manager, stop the server and use the configuration method. Panel-specific buttons and paths vary, so do not assume that a file named similarly belongs to the active server.

Security and administration practices

  • Give full admin only to trusted operators. The role includes every privilege and the ability to promote others.
  • Use a narrower privilege where practical. Individual privileges can supplement a role without granting the complete administrator bundle.
  • Keep a configuration backup. A dated copy of serverconfig.json makes recovery from a formatting error much faster.
  • Remove temporary startup commands. If you used StartupCommands to recover access, delete the line after the intended promotion and restart once to confirm the cleaned configuration works.
  • Verify names before executing. Role commands affect the account name supplied; copy it from the server’s player list rather than relying on memory.
  • Check after upgrades. Command syntax and configuration layout can change between game versions. Re-run /help and inspect /serverconfig after an upgrade before automating administration.

Quick recovery checklist

  1. Open the server console.
  2. Run /help to confirm the role-command syntax supported by this build.
  3. Whitelist the player first if your dedicated server requires it.
  4. Run /player PlayerName role admin, or the locally documented /op PlayerName shortcut.
  5. Have the player reconnect and perform a harmless permission check.
  6. If no console is available, stop the server, back up serverconfig.json, add the confirmed command to StartupCommands, save valid JSON, and restart.
  7. Remove a one-time startup command after the promotion and keep the backup.

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